This is a 5 minute exposure with a 3 mm pinhole, onto 4 sheets of glossy paper which I taped to my projector screen. My hope is that I can make large scale photo paper collages from the images in the Oss Box and having made this small scale one I am looking forward to experimenting outside of my garden.

The left hand images are with a 7 mm pinhole and the right with a 3 mm pinhole and the degree of difference in sharpness of the image whilst not jaw dropping is apparent.

As part of my Pinhole project I decided to make some solargrams. These are long exposure images,from 1 day to 6 months, directly onto photographic paper.They do not need processing as the light inside the camera will create an image on the paper.The path of the sun can be seen tracking across the image if they are left for long enough.

2 Day Solargram Negative2 day Solargram

The image created in the beer can is not stable.Once you have your image it needs to be scanned and inverted and probably the levels adjusted.It is best to do this in low light as further light exposure will degrade your negative.

I used glossy paper for this as it was the right size and some old paper someone had given me.I had read that it shouldn’t be use but as i was experimenting I thought I’d give it a go.

I have put 12 beer cans around the area I live and will be leaving them in situ for 3 months. I am hopeful that some will last out.

This is one of three I put at Haden Hill Park in Cradley Heath with their permission.One has sadly disappeared after 5 days.Fingers crossed for the others.

. This one lasted about 12 hours on Bristol Road in Cradley Heath

Luckily they are cheap to make, but I am disappointed when I see them deliberately ruined like this.

This is an image I have just taken to show a rough idea of the shed set up. It was a 5.5 minute exposure and I used a remote control and heavy tripod to stop camera shake.

The difficulty with these photographs is that in order to take them you have to sit in the dark for log periods while the bulb exposure goes off and also your camera can’t auto-focus very well because it is pitch black. I used the 7 mm pinhole to shorten the exposure time.

6 Minute ExposureMy Neighbour’s HouseSummer House

These were taken off the projector screen and were 1-6 minute exposures. I like the quality if the photographs produced as while they are technically not the best they have a dark atmospheric quality and seem quite filmic. On the Summer House there is a small black square centrally which is the little bit of sticky tape that I used for focusing and forgot to remove.I also have some light leakage in my camera as you can see in the top left hand corner of the images.

In preparation for making the Oss Box into a pinhole camera I decided to experiment with my shed which I have set up as a darkroom by making it into a Camera Obscura.

This is the hole I cut in my blackout blind which stupidly I made directly over the wooden cross rail of the window

It is a bit chaotic and I am a bit slapdash with the science but once I get the main problems sorted out then I can go back and tinker with the other stuff.

As you can see I have made myself some beautifully crafted pinholes by bashing a nail through old drink can aluminium which I gaffer tape over the hole in my blind. They seem to work OK but I have got myself a set of new drill bits so that i can make some precise ones now that I have a gauge of the results.